Hail in the Twin Cities: May 3, 2015

Hailstones from the May 3, 2015 storm at Maplewood north of St. Paul.Courtesy: MNDNR State Climatology Office

A sunny and warm Sunday gave way to building thunderstorms that moved across the Twin Cities. There were many reports of hail in the penny to quarter size in the northern metro area, with a few larger reports. The largest hail report found was golfball-sized near Stillwater. There were also reports of hail piling up like snow on the ground several inches deep and some of the hail was still lingering on the ground 12 hours later.

The rain was a welcome sight but most places saw less than a half inch of rain in the Twin Cities. A few places saw more including .76 inches in northern Fridley. The Twin Cities International Airport only saw .05 (five hundredths of an inch) of rain. A heavier band of rain moved across southeast Minnesota and also dropped some large hail near Albert Lea, Austin and Rochester. Rochester saw .66 of an inch of rain and Harmony in Fillmore County saw 1.04 inch of rain. The rain missed the driest sections of the state in northwest, north central and and west central parts of Minnesota.